West Texas TV

Tivo news - software and new hardware

2012-01-24T14:13:00.001-06:00

TiVo is finally pushing out a software release that people seem to like. Tivo Community forum members generally have given the update a thumbs-up and that is a tough group to please. The 20.2 update to the Premiere boxes goes a long way in finally updating the HD menus and supports Multi-room Viewing (MRV). MRV allows you to record a show on one box and stream to another, and apparently streaming works while the recording is in progress. (Prior to MRV - and with the older TivoHD's - the original recording had to be complete before it could be "transferred" to another Tivo but the show could be viewed while the transfer is in progress. Transferring is also prohibited with DRM'd content.) The 20.2 update should reach all Premieres subscribed directly with Tivo within the next week but it's my understanding that Suddenlink Tivo subscribers won't see it for a few months.

Tivo also showed a new piece of hardware at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which allows Tivo users to stream content to, and/or watch recorded content on, iOS devices through their home network. The device looks to be about the size of the Apple TV box. Tivo users have wished for the ability to stream to portable devices but the transcoding to do so apparently requires more processing power than available on current Tivo boxes. Slingbox-like-devices do already provide a workaround of sorts and Tivo Director of Marketing Jason Wong hinted in a recent interview that future Tivos will probably have transcoding built-in so the add-on box may be just a temporary thing. Of course, temporary could be a few years...

BCS Game - Even my provider went to sleep

2012-01-10T16:16:00.003-06:00

I was disappointed in the BCS title game between Alabama and LSU. The almost-complete lack of participation by LSU made it hard to get real interested and I can only assume the feed to/from Grande became bored to death. I lost the signal (and most other channels) for most of the second quarter.

The most excitement for me came when the signal returned at half-time and a graphic showed the score Alabama 0, LSU 9. Since Alabama lead 3-0 before I lost the signal I spent 3 or 4 seconds trying to decide if, due to some weird BCS rule, points were taken away from Alabama for some infraction, or if my memory was getting worse than I previously thought.

At least it was better than watching a Dallas Cowboy game.

Avatar 3D

2012-01-01T12:45:00.002-06:00

Our New Year's Eve movie was Avatar 3D. The Blu-ray disc was a promotional bonus with a recently purchased Panasonic player and I was eager to watch a 3D movie on our new Samsung TV. Although we had watched a few shorts/cartoons using the Samsung's built-in internet application, this was our first full length 3D movie.

Avatar is one long, weird movie but I was very impressed with the 3D version. The visual effects are pretty amazing and some scenes, such as those showing the characters using holographic computer displays, really benefited from 3D. I'm not sure that a regular movie, say True Grit, would benefit from 3D but Avatar seemed pretty well-suited for it. We paused the movie a couple of times for short breaks (we were also doing a couple loads of laundry) but I don't think it would have been a problem had we watched straight through - at least no problem for my eyes - my rear end probably benefited from the breaks more than my eyes. I did, however, have some really weird dreams last night.

Although I originally thought the Blu-ray disc included only the 3D version, the 2D version is on there, too. But, I'm guessing I won't ever watch the movie again or any sequel. It might seem odd that as an amateur astronomer I'm not much of a sci-fi fan but that's the case and Avatar was just a bit too weird for me. I would still recommend the 3D Avatar movie for a 3D experience, though. It was compelling, to me, that the production of the film (according to Wikipedia) made use of 4,000 HP servers and 35,000 processor cores and each minute of final footage occupies 17.28 gigabytes of storage. I might not be a fan of sci-fi but I am a geek.

I saw 3D Toy Story at the local movie theater and have seen a couple of 3D IMAX films (International Space Station was great). In comparison, I found the Samsung 3D glasses (model SSG3100GB) at least as comfortable/non-distracting as the movie glasses and we experienced no problems whatsoever with them - no flickering, loss of sync or such.

A Blu-ray Player

2011-12-05T13:21:00.002-06:00

I finally selected the Panasonic BDT210 as my Blu-ray player and gave it a try on Saturday night with the Blu-ray version of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Rented from Redbox). The verdict? It looked and sounded really, really good.

The BDT210 was on sale at Best Buy last week so I took the bait. Also, these players come with a coupon redeemable for a copy of Avatar 3D and people are reselling the BD for around $100. By the time I get my copy of the BD (8-12 weeks according to the coupon) the price will probably be closer to $19 but we'll see...

Like my other two recent purchases (the TV and the soundbar), my new Blu-ray player is loaded with complicated features and I struggled a bit with the audio setup. The player is set up to output 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound sampled at 96 kHz and my Sony soundbar will not handle anything over 48 kHz so it took some time with the user manual to find the right settings. It took quite a bit of reading and experimenting to get everything set up and I hope I don't need to change it for a long time because I will forget all the details within the next 5-7 days.

One other tidbit I learned about TV audio... if you drive your audio equipment with a connection from the TV you can get only 2-channel stereo regardless of the type of connection. Most all new televisions will output surround sound only when the source is over-the-air. If you are using a cable box, or other equipment such as a DVD/BD player, as the input source, the TV will "down-convert" the sound as per some licensing restriction. So, boys and girls, feed your audio equipment directly from the box/player for the best sound.

Fuzzy Football on NBC

2011-12-05T12:56:00.005-06:00

Am I the only one seeing the picture go from a very soft, to a gradual sharp, focus on NBC?

I don't remember seeing this anytime except during the Sunday night football games. When the view goes to the wide shot, used just before the ball is snapped, the picture is very soft and then gradually becomes sharp. But not all the time. I tried last night to identify just exactly what was happening prior to the effect each time but too often I was distracted by the game.

A New TV and Soundbar

2011-11-29T10:28:00.002-06:00

Although I've neglected the blog for a long time, there have been some TV equipment changes here at the house so I'll get into those in a moment. First, I'll offer some excuses. Skip to the fifth paragraph if you're interested only in the TV stuff.

We went to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque this year. We've been wanting to make it up there for several years but had put it off. And we have been to the Alpine balloonfest several times so that somewhat satisfied the need to see giant bags of hot air ascending to the heavens. We also had some living-quarters remodeling scheduled so we returned home from Albuquerque with just barely time to wash all the clothes and start moving stuff out of the way for new carpet and tile. As you might remember, I'm retired but the wife is still working. She decided that rather than retire, she would amass huge amounts of money to buy a new house or to remodel the current house. And since we decided to remodel, she had the advantage of safe refuge from 8-5 each day while tilers and carpeters had their way with my space. I survived the week-or-so and we now have nice new tile and "green" carpet that is really brown made from corn. Really. Made from corn.

The wife has also been steadily replacing furniture because, of course, one cannot have old furniture sitting on new carpet/tile. I'm not sure why but I really don't need to know why. I know I don't need to know because that's what I was told. And new furniture requires at least one new TV. That I understand because it was explained to me in detail... One piece of the new furniture is a TV stand which is 71-inches wide and requires a TV of similar size so that the TV does not look so small sitting on it. The viewability, or ability to provide quality entertainment has absolutely nothing to do with TV selection I now know. I offered a feeble argument that a television that size would make our modest-sized living room look like a drive-in theater but found myself looking through the selection of TVs on display at Best Buy.

Some people do not realize that an 80-inch television on display among ten or twelve 55 and 60-inch televisions does not look all that big. It will not look the same in your living room. Unless you have ten or twelve 55/60-inch TVs in it already. This argument I was able to win only after coming home and using masking tape on the wall to show the true size of a 80-inch TV. Genius, huh?

I was assigned to select a 60-inch TV and, after exhaustive research on the Internet, we ended up with a 60-inch Samsung TV that is Smart. I don't know exactly how smart our new TV is but I'll get in to that later. My research lead me to either the Samsung or a Sony for picture quality and the price difference made the final choice easy. Many people complain of "flashlighting" on LED backlit LCD televisions but with proper adjustment I see no flashlighting at all on ours. I copied the settings from several sources, particularly the AVSforum and CNET and was pretty pleased with the results except the sound. The only downside of a TV this size (or larger) is that any defects in the content are really obvious. I have some DVDs with 480i content that will just be unwatchable on this TV.

With our old Sony TV I used a receiver/amplifier with Radio Shack Minimus-7 speakers. These small speakers offer great sound in a very small package but the old JVC receiver seemed both out-of-date (not even optical output) and huge for this purpose so I set out to research my options. Hey, it's not my fault - She wanted the new TV and I was just trying to complete the setup. I eventually selected the Sony HT CT150 soundbar. Soundbars have become very popular for that gap between built-in TV speakers and Home Theater Surround Sound and the CT150 receives high praise from other geeks. I'm very pleased with the Sony soundbar.

Our Samsung is one of the Smart TV models but does not have built-in WiFi - it requires CAT5 or a proprietary wireless dongle. The smarts include apps for streaming content from Hulu, Netflix, etc. but I really couldn't care less about the networking feature in the TV because I have pretty much the same capability through my TivoHD. Yet, when I found a non-Samsung dongle at Newegg.com for less than $30, I ordered one anyway. (The Samsung dongle is $80, but the cheaper Rosewill uses the same chipset and is the only non-Samsung dongle that works with Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players.) My curiosity - no, my geekiness, require me to find out just how "smart" the TV is. I haven't received the dongle yet so I still don't know.

I've yet to decide on a Blu-ray player but am considering a Panasonic, a Sony or a Samsung. The Samsung or Sony would supposedly offer to integrate more seamlessly with the TV or the soundbar but the Panasonic seems to be rated higher for less noise and/or better upconverting of standard DVDs than the other two brands. All three brands apparently do 3D/Blu-ray playback very well but almost all the commentary in the forums focuses more on the networking ability of the players because, like TVs, new Blu-ray players are network compatible. My primary concerns in the differences of the models I've researched are the mechanical noise of the players, the DVD upconverting and the 3D ability so the Panasonic DMP-BDT110 is looking like the frontrunner for the money.

So that should just about catch us up. And by the way... Next time I'll vote to move.

Video On The Go

2011-07-07T09:48:00.004-05:00

Eric, of the famed Fire Ant Gazette, posted about his GoPro HD Helmet Hero video camera. I had considered that device but was really looking for something with a different purpose in mind so I finally decided on the Smart Black Box SBX-1100. The SBX-1100 is a data recorder so the video is not near the quality of cameras like the GoPro but the video can still be used to show where I've been. The SBX-1100 records at 15 or 30 fps and I use it in the 15 fps mode for my purpose.

I'd be hard-pressed to justify the gadget for more than anything other than just that - a gadget - but you never know when such things might thrust themselves into the world of true usefulness. And in the meantime I can always refer back this recent video to re-live rain and cool temperatures.

And personally, I think SBX-1100 sounds cooler than GoPro HD Helmet Hero.

World Record Attempt on TV Tonight - By Texas Rangers

2011-06-21T11:07:00.001-05:00

The Texas Rangers will attempt a world record tonight. No, not home runs. And no, not any other feat of baseball. The Rangers organization will give away 30,000 sunglasses as fans arrive and those fans will be asked to put the sunglasses on at the end of the 6th inning in an attempt to set a world's record for Most People Wearing Sunglasses in the Dark.

An official adjudicator from Guinness World Records will be onsite to immediately confirm the successful attempt.

Don't forget to set your DVR!

Update 06/22/11: According to the person identified as a Guinness World Records Official, interviewed before the end of the game, the record was recognized. Except for seeing Nolan Ryan and George W. Bush sitting there together wearing the cheesy plastic glasses it was a pretty uninteresting stunt. The game however was interesting - a walkoff homer by the Rangers in the 11th inning. Still, I don't think I'll bother burning the video to CD.

Getting the Most From Tivo

2011-05-25T12:54:00.002-05:00

Several years ago (2005 I think) Tivo opened their platform to PC/Tivo interactions through Home Media Engine (HME) functionality. This allowed users to build home network applications which interfaced with their Tivos and resulted in a few games and even a few useful utilities. I have recently spent some time re-acquainting myself with four of these utilities. They are Remote, kmttg, pyTivo and StreamBaby. All four are written in python or java and work well on Windows, Linux or OS X computers.

A little background first... Tivos now require an internet connection - originally they had a built-in telephone modem and required only a phone line. The connection is used primarily to update the program guide and to allow software updates. The user can also opt-in to furnish viewing information back to Tivo who then uses the anonymous details to compile (and sell) viewing statistics. Users can also (again optionally) allow their Tivo certain local networking functionality. This networking functionality can be extended to interact with other Tivo users via the internet or can be restricted to one's local network.

Remote is a simple PC application which duplicates the functions of the Tivo remote control, or Peanut as Tivo users like to call it (it's shaped like a big peanut). Control is conducted through your local computer network and can select any Tivo on that network. So I could, for example, control the living room Tivo from my computer in the back room. Not exactly an indispensible utility but it has proven to be suprisingly useful for me. Remote is written in python.

pyTivo (also written in python) serves much the same purpose as Tivo's own Tivo Desktop application but with greater flexibility and functionality. Basically both programs allow the transfer of recordings between Tivo and PC. pyTivo extends functionality to include some video file types not recognized by Tivo Desktop and allows batch processing which automates transfers. For example, pyTivo can be set to automatically transfer all new recordings of a specific show. The program also serves as a directory of recordings on all Tivos on the network.

kmttg is very much like pyTivo but extends batch processing to automate other operations after files are moved to the PC. For example, kmttg could automatically transfer a recording to the PC, process the file with a utility called ComSkip (which identifies where commercials are in the recording) and then send the recording along with the ComSkip data to a third utility called FFmpeg which could convert the original recording to an .mp4 file and cut the commercials out in the process. The batch could even continue to convert the recording (or any other video in your library) to video compatible with an iPhone, iPad or just about any other format you could want.

StreamBaby (written in python) allows recordings on your desktop to be streamed via your local network to your Tivo. It works much like Netflix streaming - showing thumbnails when fast-forwarding or reversing - but includes the ability to jump to any particular time in the recording and even allows transcoding (via the FFmpeg utility) at varying bit rates to accommodate slower wireless networks. (Many people use Streambaby after ripping their DVDs to keep a folder of on-demand movies.)

These handy utilities are all open-source (free!) and enhance the Tivo experience. For more on getting the most from your Tivo, see this thread at the Tivo Community discussion forum.

Replacing Cable (or Satellite) With Internet TV

2011-05-11T12:52:00.000-05:00

Well just when I thought I had nothing TV to blog about I found this article about Video On Demand.

I planned for some time to post about the alternatives to cable/satellite television but everytime I started writing I became overwhelmed. I read somewhere that there are over 40 (legitimate) sources for over-the-internet television but, of course, a much smaller number are the most popular choices.

This article from MaximumTech.com gives a brief overview of the services of Amazon Instant Video, Blockbuster on Demand, Cinema Now, Crackle, Vudu, Hulu/HuluPlus, iTunes Store, and Netflix. I tend to agree that these are probably the most relevant of such sources.

In a nutshell, there is a lot of streaming available for movies and selected TV shows. For the latest shows you'll typically pay about $4.00 to rent a movie and about $2.00 for a TV episode - although some TV shows are available for free 24 hours after the show originally airs. Some TV shows are shown with commercials and some are not.

If you have not really kept up-to-date on streaming television sources I think you'll find the MaximumTech article very informative. For now I still prefer cable-delivered television mostly for the quality of picture, convenience and for live sporting events.

No TV - Just stuff

2011-05-11T12:09:00.001-05:00

I can't seem to get interested in anything happening on the television scene so, in order to make this blog appear to have a bit of life left, I'll just ramble to myself awhile...

I really like Google Docs. Cloud computing they call it. I don't keep anything on it that could be called a personal/security risk but the ability to view/edit my documents even from my phone is neat. I've spent way too much time building a spreadsheet to log and chart gas mileage, miles driven per month, cost per mile driven, gas prices, etc. That spreadsheet even eases the pain-at-the-gas-pump just because I'm excited to have new numbers to enter when I get home. I also use Gas Cubby on the iPhone which does almost exactly the same thing but one can never be too OCD. What if I died in a horrible accident on the way home and never had the chance to enter the new data in my spreadsheet? After my funeral my friends and family would be all "I wonder what kind of mileage his 4Runner was getting. It's only a few months old. I wonder how much money he spent on gas since the truck was new. Let's look at his Google Docs spreadsheet and find out. Isn't it ironic that he was on his way home from filling up when that Prius ran the redlight and plowed into him?"

Vulkano Flow - Slingin' TV

2011-04-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

The Vulkano Flow ($99) is Monsoon Multimedia's latest product for placeshifting. Placeshifting, if you're not familiar, is making your television available anywhere - shifting the place you view. Placeshifting allows you, for example, to watch live television on your smartphone, laptop, or tablet when you're not at home.

Until recently about the only placeshift game in town was Slingbox. I had a Slingbox for awhile and mentioned it elsewhere on this site at the time. I gave the Slingbox away after I replaced my cable set-top-box (STB) with a Tivo because the STB had to feed either a TV or the Slingbox, not both without some kind of physical in-line switch. This shortcoming is overcome by the Vulkano Flow because the Flow provides output so that it can be used in-line between the STB or DVR. The cabling is component (or composite for standard definition applications) so copy protection (DRM) is not an issue but, obviously, that also means the convenience of HDMI is lost.

The Flow comes with component, composite and audio cables and the IR cable for controlling a STB or DVR. It also has built-in Wi-Fi for connection to a router if the unit is not within cabling distance. The remote viewer can control the STB/DVR remotely and pause playback within the app. Other Vulkano products include a hard drive or hard drive interface but the Flow can only record like a DVR when accessed through a computer with a hard drive on the same network. Portable devices do allow buffering/pausing up to 30 minutes, though.

I like placeshifting for two main purposes: Sometimes I like to keep up with a ballgame on my iPhone around the house, and when on the road I've been known to watch the local news. The second scenario was hit-and-miss with the Slingbox because there was no recording ability in the Slingbox or the STB to which it was attached. I had to be ready to view at news-time. With the Flow attached to my Tivo I have the ability to set programs to record and to play them back on demand.

Noteworthy limitations include picture resolution (720p max) and one remote viewer at-a-time. Also, viewing on less-than-optimum 3G cell coverage when away from your local network may require a lot of tweaking with picture quality.

Sling does offer products with comparable features (except for built-in wireless) but the price difference is substantial.

Local History

2011-04-04T14:21:00.003-05:00

As I've stated a time or two, I am a fan of local history. So, I enjoyed this Reporter-Telegram's correspondent story of the capture and trial of some 1890s thieves. The story also mentions Jimmy Patterson's soon-to-be-published book, "Midland: A History of Character.” I sure hope someone reminds me when the book is released so I can go buy it.

And speaking of history... The spring meeting of the Permian Historical Society will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 16th at the Petroleum Museum. The public is invited to hear these presentations:

* Ginger Pope Schantz—1986 Immigration
* Craig & Jeff Fischer—History & story of 100 year old Kermit, TX
* Tommy Garrison—story of reviving the Boy Scout Hut in Iraan with help
from the late Rose Mary Rogers
* Tom Chick—Making of the movie “Giant” from a kids point of view plus
some music written by Tom.
* Victoria Scism—Stories from & about the Chihuahua Trail

If you are interested in local history, please visit the PHS website for more information and/or pass the link on to anyone you know is a history fan.

Your LED Television is not

2011-03-26T11:32:00.005-05:00

A friend excitedly announced that he had bought an new LED HDTV and I promptly informed him that his new TV did not have an LED display, it just used LEDs instead of fluorescent backlighting. My friend liked the picture and was convinced by a salesman that the LED television was "much better than a TV with an LCD display".

I'm pretty sure I've bought plenty of stuff over the years and was perfectly satisfied with my purchase until someone enlightened me to the fact it was not exactly what I thought it was. My satisfaction was diminished only by the new information.

My friend likes his new television and it's not my place to reduce his satisfaction with technical details. His TV has a great picture and he likes it. And the LED backlighting has real advantages even though the marketing is technically misleading.

Sorry Dan. I should have kept my mouth shut.

The Social Network

2011-03-03T10:39:00.002-06:00

On our son's recommendation we watched The Social Network this past weekend and , suprisingly to me, my wife enjoyed the movie. I thought she would drift off to a book while the movie played - especially after the first couple minutes because the opening dialog was rapid-fire geek and I kinda expected the geek to dominate the show throughout. But, she hung in there and said she really liked the movie once that opening scene was behind us. After watching the movie I had a difficult time figuring out why I liked the movie so much myself. I didn't really find the storyline all that exciting and, besides, I'm not much of a Facebook fan. I eventually decided two things made the movie enjoyable. Someone making a huge amount of money from a relatively simple idea is pretty neat. And I thought the acting and dialog were very good in the movie. I was particularly impressed with Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker (the founder of Napster). I knew JT was a teeny-bopper(?) idol in the group 'N Sync but that was the limit of my familiarity with him. I didn't (and still don't) know if the guy can sing or not but would never have guessed he could act based on that background. I learned after seeing the movie that it was nominated for an Oscar or two and did win several other awards so I guess we're not the only people who found the movie entertaining. Check it out - even if you're not a nerd. It's available from Netflix.

At the time my son recommended The Social Network I retaliated with the recommendation that he watch Inglourious Basterds. He enjoys war flicks so I figured he'd already seen it. He had not, but did. A few days later when he called, my wife asked how he liked "Despicable Bastards".

Computer Jeopary!

2011-02-09T15:00:00.001-06:00

In case you haven't heard already, an IBM computer will be competing on the game show Jeopary! next week. The computer, named Watson, will compete against past-champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.

If Watson is successful, and I'm betting he... uh it, will be, on which other game shows will it appear? Imagine Watson, as grandprize winner on Wheel of Fortune, on a seven-day cruise basking his silcon-self in a deck chair sipping milliamps through a bendy fiber-optic straw by day and flexing his teraflops at the ship's gyro stabilizers in the moonlight.

Or maybe Family Feud. A row of desktop PCs in support blinking in anticipation of one Good Answer after another while their pitiful human opponents can't even hit the buzzer fast enough to compete. But, Family Feud might not be much challenge for massive parallel POWER7 processors and the IBM DeepQA software. A 1970's z80-based TRS-80 could probably do quite well on the Feud.

I doubt that Watson could dominate all TV game shows, though. As a matter of act, I'll take on Watson if I can choose the game. Supermarket Sweep.

Jeopardy! airs daily on ABC at 6 p.m.

The Superbowl Ad

2011-02-02T13:45:00.002-06:00

I'm going out a limb (thin, frozen type) here and identifying my favorite Superbowl XLV ad now.

Watch for the ad from Volkswagen.

May the Force be with you.

An Idiot Abroad

2011-01-28T16:57:00.002-06:00

This new series airs on the Science Channel on Saturday nites at 9 p.m. local time. After watching one episode I've set my Tivo to record the show every week - partly because I enjoy seeing the sights (China in the first episode) and culture. I also enjoy British humor even though I have to hit the Rewind button quite a bit to understand what's being said. Blimey. The show is produced by Ricky Gervais. Check it out and offer your thoughts on the show. If you want.

Oh, and the clip linked on Eric's blog of the Shaolin monk throwing a needle through a pane of glass is one of the demonstrations The Idiot observed in the first episode of An Idiot Abroad. When the Idiot tried the stunt the needle bounced off the glass and stuck in the arm of his cameraman. Idiot.

(Ricky Gervais is the executive producer of the TBS series The Office and played the "Michael" character in the British version of that show.)

The Office Elf

2011-01-26T21:38:00.002-06:00

I've mentioned here several times that most of the TV that I watch is on the Science and History channels but I do watch other stuff. I'm not totally a nerd. Well, maybe, but...

One series I really liked was The Office but I thought Steve Carell's character began to wane this past season. About the same time Carell became popular on the big screen coincidentally. Now it's been announced that Michael (Carell's character) is going to be replaced by a character to be played by Will Farrell. I can't say that I've been a fan of Farrell but I'm willing to watch and see how it goes. A brief article about the switch can be seen on msnbc.com here.

And speaking of Steve Carrel... Get Smart will be airing on TBS this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. As a fan of the original TV series (1965-1970) I've been wanting to see the movie so I plan to do so this weekend. IMDB reviewers give it 3 1/2 stars.

History and Aliens

2011-01-13T20:49:00.004-06:00

Two of my favorite TV channels are the History Channel and History International. There are several good series there I enjoy, such as Modern Marvels, Wild West Tech, History's Mysteries, and Ancient Almanac. But it agitates me a little to see so many shows on Nostradamus and UFOs and Ancient Aliens. Really?

The Ancient Aliens episode where they point out the Egyptian drawing of a person wearing a space helmet was interesting but I couldn't understand why the space helmet looked so much like a goldfish bowl. Maybe ancient aliens were quite capable of travelling faster than the speed of light but just never bothered with developing more sophisticated helmets. And, why did they show just one spaceman drawing in the show? Wouldn't you think if they were visited by space aliens the Egyptians would have drawn a lot more than just one picture of a guy in a space helmet among the thousands of drawings of servants and stone masons? And wouldn't it be a little uncomfortable travelling through space on that fire-belching chariot pictured on the wall? Was that really what it looked like?

And where have these guys (the aliens, not the Egyptians) been for the past 4,000 years? Did they find Earthlings so wretched they vowed to never return?

You can be sure that if I'm visited by aliens in a silver rotating-blinking-hovering-whatever craft, I'll try my very best to draw exactly that. Why would I record the event by drawing a Ford F150 with flames coming from the tailgate? I suspect aliens are really camera shy and that's why they haven't been back since good cameras were invented. Well, except for those brief visits to backroads in Arkansas.

And, don't even get me started on Nostradamus. But, those Nazca Lines [wikipedia.org] do have me baffled.

What's-her-name

2011-01-12T10:24:00.003-06:00

We all do it. We're watching a movie and see a person we know we've seen in another movie/show but can't remember which one. Now (or soon), there's an app for that. Just hold your iPhone up to the TV and this app is supposed to identify the person(s) and find what else they've done.

I don't need the app because I have a wife.

It's Not CES. It's a Map

2011-01-07T16:20:00.002-06:00

Cell phones and network-capable TV's are dominating at CES but I'm not (so far) compelled to comment on any of them. So here's a neat interactive demographic map from the NY Times.

Send 'um Texts Heap Fast

2010-12-29T14:15:00.002-06:00

Apple will soon add Cherokee language support to iOS devices. Just in case you've been waiting.

On-line Content

2010-12-29T13:56:00.002-06:00

Internet-connected television is trying to become popular by several means but will it replace cable, satellite and over-the-air? In my opinion, no. At least not in the near future. Some people are replacing conventional delivery with Hulu (and less significant/successful others), but I think most of us are using internet connections only as an occasional supplement - mostly for movies.

Hulu seems to be the most popular web tv provider and offers free content from FOX, NBC, ABC, ABC Family, The Biography Channel, MTV Networks, the National Geographic Channel and other networks. I do know some people who use Hulu as their primary source of television viewing but many people use Hulu just as a backup for when they miss the original airing of a favorite TV show and are willing to watch the missed episode on their computer monitor.

Sony has partnered with Google TV and is offering network-ready televisions but GoogleTV seems to be having a hard time hitting the ground. Content providers such as NBC, ABC, CBS, Hulu and Viacom have blocked content from Google TV. Google TV is getting lots of on-line press but, even backed with Google cash, Google TV has a lot to overcome.

Popular hardware for receiving content via the internet includes the new Apple TV (as opposed to the old Apple TV which was perhaps not quite ready for prime-time), the Roku box, game consoles (XBOX, PS3, Wii, etc.) and Tivo. If you're looking for such hardware I would recommend any of these (although that includes the game consoles only if you already own one). Just remember you'll need an internet network with good bandwidth to avoid annoying pauses.

Popular content providers include Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes. On-demand content is also available from Blockbuster.

Apple TV

2010-12-28T08:42:00.003-06:00

Eric's post about the Apple TV reminded me that I'd really like to get one and play with it, but even at the low, low price of $99 I can't push myself over the decision hump because my Tivo does pretty much all the same things. That still doesn't mean I won't eventually buy one, though. As a gadget geek, the Apple TV is just too neat for me to ignore forever.

Suddenlink to offer Tivo to Midland market

2010-12-17T10:13:00.004-06:00

In this announcement yesterday, Suddenlink and Tivo announced Midland and Lubbock customers of the cable service will be offered the Tivo Premiere DVR. I will be surprised if users don't find the Tivo to be light-years ahead of what they've been using.

Streaming live TV to the iPhone

2010-04-21T13:43:00.002-05:00

It is so geeky cool to watch live TV on the iPhone. Of course, that's just me - I'm sure many will find the concept sad. Maybe even pathetic.

In July 2008 I blogged about the Slingbox - a device which allows streaming live TV via local LAN or through the internet. The Slingbox worked great but was enventually tossed when I switched hardware around and dumped my last cable set-top box. I did miss the ability to watch TV from my Palm TX but not-so-much until baseball season arrived again.* I needed not only an alternative to the Slingbox but I had also sold the Palm TX on eBay after getting an iPhone.

I'm now using Orb to stream live TV to my iPhone. The Orb iPhone app, OrbLive, will automatically use Wi-Fi when the iPhone and the desktop computer are on the same LAN and switch to 3G/Edge when I'm away from home. I don't plan to use the app away from home much because that would require the desktop to be running all the time while I'm away, but the option is there if, for example, I wanted to view local newscasts while out of town (and if I remembered to leave the desktop running).

Unlike the self-contained hardward/firmware of a Slingbox, the use of Orb requires a TV tuner attached to the deskstop for streaming live TV. The desktop Orb account and software are free but the iPhone app is $10. In addition to live TV, Orb allows the streaming of recorded videos, music and photos from the desktop computer and even allows one to record TV shows via the Orb web-based DVR feature for mobile timeshifting.

All the Orb features are also available on the iTouch so long as one stays in Wi-Fi range. And there is speculation that the video streaming will be tuned to the larger screen of the iPad in the near future but currently iPad users complain about video quality when viewed full screen on that device.

*The reason I'm willing to watch tiny baseball remains as was explained in the original Slingbox post. I seldom watch a whole game this way but catch an inning here and there.

Wii Netflix Streaming

2010-03-25T16:28:00.003-05:00

According to the responses in my little survey, Netflix appears to be a popular service to those who happen upon this site. Now, the free disc to enable Netflix streaming via the Wii game console is being shipped. Get your copy by going to the Netflix site, signing in, and clicking the Instantly To Your TV link.

And if you're a history buff, I recommend streaming the DVD-length Ken Burns documentary Lewis and Clark: The Journey. Excellent stuff.

West Texas TV Survey So Far

2010-03-09T20:14:00.004-06:00

It's a very small sample but so far we can guess Netflix is popular. Here are the responses so far.

How Do You Watch TV - survey

2010-02-09T17:03:00.002-06:00

Please consider following this link to complete a survey about your television viewing. The survey is one I created and the results go to nobody but me. I'll post the results after at least ten responses. Results will be updated if responses continue after the initial results are posted.

The survey is anonymous and created using Google Docs.

Thanks!

Van Horn Cowboys

2010-02-07T14:52:00.002-06:00

We drove to Van Horn Saturday to attend the Texas Crossroads Cowboy Gathering. We had never been to one of these but thought it'd be fun and it seemed like a good excuse to take the roadster down the highway.

The Saturday night show consisted of the top ten performers from open jam sessions Friday night and throughout the day on Saturday. Some really good music, some fun cowboy stories and poems and we enjoyed all two-and-a-half hours. Our favorite performer was Darrell Staedtler of Llano, Texas. Darrell's accoustic guitar on the George Strait hits "Blame It On Mexico" and "A Fire I Can't Put Out" was outstanding. His vocals would probably be considered so-so in comparison to George Strait but the fact that Darrell wrote both songs made the performance special. Darrell also did a couple of very good cowboy poems.

Local (Odessa-Midland) artist Rusty Battenfield performed a couple of Cowboy/Indian songs and did a great job. He was accompanied by a woman playing an Indian flute on one song - she was very good, also - I'm sorry I missed her name. Patsy Golden maybe? Rusty was one of the final winners and, as such, received an invitation to one of the bigger cowboy symposiums later this year at a location I missed.

The Saturday performance was web-broadcast live so they may put up a link so that it can be replayed. I doubt that the video would do justice, considering they used a laptop camera. But I do give them credit for the attempt.

Welcome Back

2010-01-12T15:07:00.004-06:00

It's been so long... I feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle.

High Definition TV is not news anymore but much of the digital television issues are still issues. The CableCard remains stale although still more alive than Tru2way. The availabliltiy of CableCard devices is loosening up as shown by some new products introduced at this year's CES. How about a 4-tuner card for your desktop computer? Get two and record up to 8 channels at a time. That, of course, assumes you can find 8 programs worth recording. Also, Hauppauge is due to release a CableCard tuner device.

Have you been considering any of the new less-than-$100 portable digital TVs now on the market? Target has one on sale for about $80 but try before you buy. Although digital television over the air can produce excellent picture quality, reception is tricky. Moving the built-in antenna a fraction of an inch can make a difference.

And speaking of antennae... Over-the-air television is excellent in the Odessa-Midland area when an outside antenna is used. The lack of The History Channel, The Science Channel and ESPN make it a moot point for me, though.

And finally, if you enjoy photography, check out this local photographer's work. The Stanton, TX series is informative and excellent work. Also, see his Saturday project at PhotoSaturdays.

Rangers in HD

2009-07-07T13:36:00.004-05:00

Grande has announced some new high definition channels in their lineup and the one I'm most excited about is Fox Sports Southwest. It will be so nice to watch Rangers baseball in HD more than the twice yearly they're shown on ESPN.

The other HD additions include The Travel Channel, The Weather Channel and CNN. These are already in the channel lineup although not yet in the guide. In the meantime I scan for the new FSS channel every day as soon as I get home.

UPDATE: 7/15/09 - The Fox Sports channel (448) showed up last night.

KMID - Finally!

2009-06-03T21:42:00.002-05:00

High-def is supposed to be available by the end of this week according to an article in today's Odessa American.

UPDATE: 06/15/09
Although it's not reflected in the program guides yet, the high-def picture showed up on Grande (Channel 403) over the weekend.

Alas

2009-03-30T14:07:00.001-05:00

Day 88
sky brown. wind relentless. can barely see the horizon. no sign of the others.
hope fading.

Tivo HD

2009-02-18T15:03:00.004-06:00

I recently replaced my rented cable company DVR with a Tivo HD. A cable company DVR is not really bad but comparing it with Tivo is like comparing shirts with and without pockets. The Tivo has lots of pockets.

With a TivoHD you can:
Rent movies from Amazon Unbox and from Netflix.*
Stream movies and TV shows from NetFlix.
Share recordings between networked Tivos - record in the living room and watch in the bedroom.
Copy non-DRM'd shows to a desktop computer and burn on DVD.
Copy or stream video from a desktop computer.
Schedule recordings through the internet from anywhere.
Plug in an external hard drive for additional storage.

Also, a good selection of internet videos, including YouTube videos, and podcasts can be viewed on the Tivo.

I'm very pleased with the high-def Tivo and highly recommend it.

* Amazon rentals usually can remain on the Tivo for up to 30 days before viewing. Once you begin viewing you have 24 hours to watch the program before it automatically deletes. When purchased, a movie can be downloaded to 2 different Tivos (and to 2 portable media devices). If the program is deleted from the Tivo it can be downloaded again, anytime, without additional charge. Netflix videos require a Netflix membership but there is no additional charge for streamed video.

Satellites Collide in Space

2009-02-11T16:34:00.002-06:00

Two satellites collided in space yesterday... An operating Iridium satellite and a non-operating Russian satellite.

Serious stuff and potentially hazardous to the ISS. Still I had to chuckle at this quote:

Asked which satellite was at fault, Johnson said "they ran into each other. Nothing has the right of way up there. We don't have an air traffic controller in space. There is no universal way of knowing what's coming in your direction."
from Spaceflight Now.

Wanna Buy Grande?

2009-02-11T14:56:00.003-06:00

According to the Broadcast Newsroom website, Grande Communications has hired New York-based cable investment banker Waller Capital Corp. to advise it in "exploring all of its strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value." I think that means they're looking for a buyer. About $500,000,000 would probably do the deal if you're interested. Or, maybe they'd be interested in a federal bailout.

Delay Deal Done? Nope! I Mean Yep!

2009-01-26T21:37:00.004-06:00

The Senate has approved a 4-month delay of the analog-to-digital switch and the House could do so as early as tomorrow. The Public Broadcasting Service estimates delaying until June 12th will cost public broadcasters $22 million.

It's my understanding that broadcasters are not required to wait, though.

Edit: 01/28/09
The House did not approve the delay. Hmm.

Edit: 02/04/09
The House, in another vote today, effectively extended the deadline until June 12, 2009. Sheesh

Digital Delay?

2009-01-08T17:35:00.002-06:00

President-elect Obama has asked Congress to delay the February 17th digital TV cutover because, he says, to many people are not ready and the converter-box funds have dried up.

Sorry, no amount of delay will get everyone ready. I truly regret that not everyone (especially some elderly viewers) will be ready but I think the analog cut has been delayed too many times already. Just get on with it.

The Shoes

2008-12-16T16:30:00.000-06:00

I admit I didn't actually read any of the stories about the incident but I seem to have spent a little too much time thinking about it after reading the headlines. Why was (at least) the second shoe not blocked by a secret service agent jumping in front of it? Can you image the briefing afterwards? Was each agent present going over it in his head again and again? How would one feel after reacting and with what care for the chain of evidence were the shoes collected? Did they smell? I'm assuming there was no gel inserts. Will the judge have mercy on the actor's soles?

Grackles

2008-12-08T21:40:00.002-06:00

Whenever we go through the drive-thru at Rosa's near the MCM Mall I can't help but think that there's got to be a way to get rid of 'em. I guess I've spent a little too much time thinking about it lately because I had a dream in which I discovered a way to get rid of those nasty, noisy, long-tailed vermin.

I first rigged up a series of hoses to each tree around the mall. The hoses ran underground from a nearby building where I had large tanks of carbon dioxide. As the filthy feathered frequent fliers arrived to roost in the evening, I pumped the CO2 into the hoses and the birds just dropped like so many pine needles onto the pavement below.

Well, sure enough, a government man showed up and told me I couldn't do that anymore because the CO2 was contributing to Global Warming. So, I went to work to find a suitable substitute for the unwanted gas.

I tried oxygen but it seemed to have no affect on the little buggers. That is until I added igniters near the hose ends. I figured a quick ignition of the pure oxygen would do the trees no harm because the flames would consume the O2 and then immediately extinguish before the tree leaves/needles had time to ignite. And sure enough, the quick combustion did no harm to the trees - but it did succeed in lighting the feathers of all those grackles. I woke up before I found out what happened when thousands of flaming birds made their way into the neighborhoods.

Roy, Dale, Gene & Hopalong

2008-12-02T15:17:00.002-06:00

(If you don't recognize those names you might as well stop reading now.)

When I was a little kid I watched Roy Rogers at 6:30 a.m. every Saturday morning. Most Saturdays I had to watch the test pattern for about 30 minutes-to-an-hour until it was time for Roy to ride in. I was an early riser.

While visiting family and eating my favorite foods to celebrate Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to visit a big kid's dreamland. Its name is Wild West Toys in Azle, Texas.

This family-owned business has acquired many old cap gun molds and produces new cap guns built the old-fashioned way. Take a look at their website. They obviously have devoted more of their talents to toys than to website design but I say their priorities are right.

I got to meet the family (they go to church with my sister and brother-in-law) and they are really nice people. They all play musical instruments and have had a music store for many years. (It's right next door to the toy store.) After spending a few minutes with them, you'd have no doubt how much they love the old west some of us grew up with on TV and they've dedicated much effort to preserve it.

If you have a little boy, or nephew or grandson, who needs a cap gun, you now know where to find a good one. And if you want to wrangle up some fun western memories of the 1950's and 1960's drop in and handle the guns. Bob will be glad to furnish the caps if you want to try some out.

I double-dog-dare you to shoot the Bronco model and not reach for your wallet.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T14:53:00.005-06:00

What happens when Psych students are required to draw a turkey on an exam paper? One student drew a cat? See the disturbing results at flickr

Geek Watch

2008-11-23T17:45:00.007-06:00

People laugh at my watch. Well, they laugh at me because of my watch. This is my second DBC150 and I'd be lost without it. The feature I use most is the countdown timer which I keep set at 10 minutes. After the timer counts down the alarm sounds for about 15 seconds or until I silence it by pressing any button. As you can see, there are lots of buttons. After the alarm, the timer begins counting down again. I use the countdown timer a lot.

If I think of something I need to remember until I get to my computer, the office, the next room, etc., I start the timer. When it sounds, I'm reminded to do whatever it was I knew I'd forget until I got to where I was going. If I haven't gotten there, I just let the timer count down again. It's set right now to remind me to check on Li-Po batteries charging in the garage. When I need to give the flowers in the tree well a little extra water, I set my timer so I don't see the Great Flood when I leave in the morning to go to work. When lap after lap of a NASCAR race makes me sleepy, I set my timer so I wake up from my nap every 10 minutes to see what hasn't happened. When I order pizza, I start my timer because it's time to leave the house 10 minutes after I place the order. (A Pizza Hut pizza takes 18 minutes from phone call to box. Usually.) When my wife says, "I just put some jeans in the washer, remind me to put them in the dryer", I set my timer. I can't believe she still makes fun of my watch. And why isn't there a buzzer on the washer like there is on the dryer?

If I have to remember something more than an hour away, I use the schedule alarm. Doesn't matter if it's two hours or two years. I have to be sure that I use an appropriate description in the 8 characters allowed.

I have all my important phone numbers in my geek watch. I even have some PIN numbers in there. But not for the ATM, so don't try to steal my watch.

I gotta go now... my timer is going off. If I could only remember what I set it for. Do you smell smoke?

Look! Up in The Sky! It's ISS

2008-11-19T16:14:00.002-06:00

At 6:18 p.m. tonight, if you look low in the south-southwest, you'll be able to see the International Space Station and Shuttle Edeavour as they begin to fly over. They'll be over the south-southeast horizon at 6:20:05 p.m. at 45 degrees up.

A repeat performance, not quite as bright, will begin at 7:54:21 p.m.in the north-northwest. But that pass shows to last only about 7 seconds so you'll have to be quick to see it.

Bankhead Highway

2008-11-17T21:04:00.004-06:00

I always thought the Bankhead Highway was a local, or at least regional, highway. It was actually a national highway running from Washington D.C. to San Diego, California. It was part of the National Auto Trail system. Wikipedia entries for: the Bankhead Highway and the National Auto Trail system.

And speaking of history... I recently bought an 1856 Texas map poster and learned that this area of Texas was part of Bexar County at that time. I was aware that several counties out here were carved out of Tom Green County (late 1880's) but didn't know we were ever lumped in with San Antonio.

There are replicas of a 1910 Texas roadmap for sale (check eBay) and it sure is tempting to buy one.

If you're interested in West Texas history you should be aware of the Permian Historical Society.

Helicopter. Yikes!

2008-11-15T18:20:00.004-06:00

I was flying my RC helicopter today when it inexplicably* came after me. After hovering it over the street just off my driveway I made the necessary twitchy thumb movements to bring it back over the driveway to land. It was slowly coming toward me as per my electronic commands when it suddenly occured to me that it was coming directly toward me and not toward the center of the driveway/landing pad as I intended.

My back was at the wall of the garage so I couldn't step back. Extra room behind me would have been of no use anyway because terror had already raced from my eyes to my legs and as the former widened, the latter weakened. To appreciate my perspective, imagine a lawn mower at eye level, moving toward your head with the blade exposed. No grass catcher, though - in case your imagination is detail-oriented.

At the last moment, the terror that originated in my eyes made contact with my brain which sent instructions to my thumbs to push the left stick forward, the right stick to the right. Then left stick backward, right stick in a kinda whirly motion. This caused the pretty yellow helicopter to plop solidly on its skids on the concrete a couple of feet from my tingling toes.

While the sweat dried I watched the shuttle launch I taped last night from HDNet. Just to return to topic.

*irony

Believe It or Not

2008-09-25T22:16:00.002-05:00

For the Middle East market, LG Electronics has released two new HDTV's (42-inch and 50-inch) that contain the complete text of the Koran. The text can be displayed and paged on demand.

Just another internet myth?

Digital TV Deadline re-cap at 2Dolphins

2008-09-06T08:37:00.003-05:00

For an excellent overview of the affects of the Digital TV changeover, see this post over at the 2Dolphins blog.

Slingbox

2008-07-18T16:12:00.002-05:00

Besides the neat name, this TV accessory is at the top of every gadget-guy's wishlist. It offers some geeky fun, and maybe even some practical applications.

The Slingbox attaches to your televsion source (basic cable, set-top-box, or DVR) and puts the content on your home network. You can access the content from any other connected computer on the network. For example, you can watch TV on your laptop after wirelessly connecting to your home network. But wait, there's more...

You could also use your laptop on the road to watch your TV (or recorded progams on your DVR) just by connecting to your home network through any broadband internet access. From anywhere in the world. But, that's not all.

You can also control your television source from your laptop - change channels, view your list of recorded programs, fast-forward, pause, etc.

And if that doesn't just make your credit card sweat pennies... You can also access your Slingbox from your Windows Mobile or Palm* device. With at least EVDO bandwidth you could watch TV from anywhere you have phone coverage. There is mobile support for PocketPC and Symbian phones, too.

I don't have a phone (or the necessary data plan) to play Sling content but I do have a Palm TX so I convinced myself to order the Slingbox AV. The best excuse I could articulate was, "I really want to watch the baseball game. But, being the selfless guy I am, I don't want to interrupt your Wii Fit sessions, Dear." Voila, baseball on my PDA. Anywhere in the house. Lame, huh? But that's my line. And I'm stickin' to it.

Google Slingbox and see how many college students are watching their parents' cable programming from the dorm. Miles and miles from home. Now there's some real justification for the $115 Slingbox.

Wireless HDTV at Last!

2008-07-11T08:48:00.002-05:00

The HDTV peripheral I've been waiting for most looks to be coming soon. It appears the Belkin FlyWire will be the first on the shelves.

This device eliminates the audio and video wires running to your TV with a switch/transmitter attached to your set-top-box, game console, etc., and a receiver attached to (or mounted to the wall near) your television.

I'll be watching reports when the FlyWire hits the streets and hoping for competition (lower prices).

Under-$300 Blu-ray Players

2008-05-16T10:19:00.003-05:00

Wal-Mart will begin selling $298 Magnavox Blu-ray players Memorial Day weekend.

These players are being made by Japanese company Funai and will also be sold by Best-Buy with the Insignia badge. The Insignia will carry a $347 price tag (unless Best-Buy reconsiders pricing due to the Wal-Mart version).

According to Video Business, only about 10% of those with HDTV's have Blu-ray high definition DVD players. Although Blu-ray won the format war, acceptance has been slow because players and discs have been relatively expensive and because many of us think 480p DVD movies are just fine.

DirecTV Adds Local Channels

2008-03-19T21:52:00.003-05:00

This was posted today on the dbstalk forum:

Locals in Odessa / Midlands TX need a 5 LNB dish and an MPEG 4 rcvr. Directv is giving away the dish and 1 rcvr free!

and

DIRECTV - Adds Odessa-Midland, TX - SD LiL channels.

I assume this is good news/bad news. It appears the local channels will be available but will be Standard Definition only.

(Thanks to Loren for the heads-up)

HD-DVD R.I.P. 2006-2008

2008-02-15T14:11:00.002-06:00

Born March 31, 2006 in Japan, HD-DVD was only two years old when it lost its battle with younger brother Blu-ray. HD-DVD leaves behind several orphan high definition discs and empty shelves at WalMart. HD-DVD's parent company Toshiba has refused comment but is expected to acknowledge the loss sometime in the next few weeks.

Blu-ray shows no remorse.

IP Television and Movies

2008-01-23T16:16:00.000-06:00

Internet TV and IPTV are popular topics among geeks these days.

Internet TV is the delivery of content through any broadband internet connection and mostly includes television shows which originated from television networks. Everything from F-Troop to Lost can be viewed on your computer now. Some sites charge a nominal fee and some require a special application to view the shows but there are many free programs which will play in your browser window.

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is more like cable television in that it's provided on a subscription basis. In its current form (in limited areas), programming is pretty much identical to that available from cable or satellite providers. Most seem to think the future will allow time-shifting, on-demand programming, so you watch any show when you want - no schedules.

In both Internet TV and IPTV, programming is delivered by Internet Protocol (IP) through a network. In the case of IPTV, the network is a closed, private network and the television-to-network interfaces are proprietary.

By the end of this year I suspect we'll start seeing quite a few digital televisions with built-in networking to allow direct connection to the internet. Already there are a few products which attach to your existing television to provide internet connectivity - the most notable of those products being the latest version of Apple TV.

Services such as NetFlix, iTunes, Amazon's Unbox, and even HBO are offering movies (and television shows) for rent or purchase through a broadband internet connection. You make your selections online, download the show and watch on your TV. In some cases you can begin watching within a few minutes and in other cases, especially with movies, it can take a day or so before you can watch. Very little high definition content is available because of bandwidth limitations in delivering such huge files.

If you're like me, you'd much rather watch TV and movies on your television set. I do watch a fair amount of television programming on my computer but I really prefer to watch on my TV. I just don't always have the choice because I cannot transfer shows from my computer to my cable company supplied DVR. A major reason for me to pull the trigger and buy a TiVoHD - and to have that option for high definition content.

For a pretty good article about Internet TV and IPTV, take a look here

CES 2008

2008-01-11T15:38:00.000-06:00

The circus that is the Consumer Electronics Show is over but I can't say I got very excited about any new television stuff I read about.

The feature I'm most eager to see in production is wireless connection of high definition between the DVD/STB/DVR and the television itself. The concept has been tossed around about a year now, and Westinghouse had a demonstration at CES, but it seems we are not likely to see a wireless HD standard for at least another year. Won't it be nice when we can finally get rid of all those wires!

If I had to bet on the high definition DVD format war, I'd bet on the side of Blu-Ray. The Warner studios announcement to cease production of HD-DVD titles was a deep wound to the Toshiba/Microsoft flesh and it'll take very little to finish them off now. I'll probably wait for version 2 of the Blu-Ray hardware.

I was a little surprised to see that plasma production is not as near death as some had predicted. Panasonic had a 150-inch plasma at CES.

There was an interesting, un-teevee-type device announced at CES... a Taser/MP3 player. Cool.

˙ʎɐpuoɯ s,ʇı

2008-01-07T12:34:00.000-06:00

No NFL Network? No Problem!

2007-12-26T17:26:00.000-06:00

At least for this week.

NFL Network will feed the New England Patriots vs. NY Giants game to CBS and to NBC so that all football fans can watch as New England attempts to finish the regular season with a perfect 16-0 record.

I can only assume at this point, that CBS7 and/or Newswest 9 (NBC) will carry the game in High Definition.

I also assume the NFL Network folks were feeling pressure from Texas politicians rather than feeling generous.

NFL vs Big Cable

2007-11-28T09:24:00.000-06:00

As you know by now if you care, the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys will host the 10-1 Green Bay Packers on Thursday night but not everyone in West Texas will be able to watch the game. Grande and Ridgewood will show the game but CableOne and Suddenlink, the two largest providers locally, will not because the game will be shown on the NFL Network. Satellite subscribers can see the game but there will be no over-the-air broadcast of the game locally.

The NFL Network and the large cable companies are disputing how the NFL Network should be carried. The NFL Network wants the cable companies to carry the network in their basic digital packages. The cable companies want to put the NFL Network in a premium package.

Personally, I hate to see this game (and the other seven this year) on NFL Network. NFL football is the most popular sport in the U.S. and many people do not subscribe to cable or satellite television. I suspect the NFL would like to move more and more games to their own NFL Network and maybe even eventually put all NFL games on it. This would allow them to enjoy all the advertising revenue and not have to negotiate with the other networks.

Sure, the NFL is in the entertainment business. And I don't begrudge them making a profit but I think they're getting a bit too greedy. Not unlike the cable companies themselves who are under fire from the FCC and looking at additional federal regulation because they have gotten a little too greedy themselves.

For a pretty good balanced view of the NFL vs Cable issue, see this Chicago Tribune article.

Also, note that the NFL will offer live updates of the game, including video, at NFL.com.

Comet 17P/Holmes

2007-11-07T14:41:00.000-06:00

Although it has nothing to do with television, you really should take a peek at this extraordinary sight. You don't need to know any of the science to enjoy it and a quick search of "comet holmes" at Wikipedia will furnish you with enough information to locate it in the night sky. With any old pair of binoculars you'll easily identify Comet Holmes when it enters your view.

For the more scientifically curious, I highly recommend you also look at a few of the photos taken by Chris Peterson of Comet Holmes. From his observatory near Guffey, CO, Chris does outstanding work. And he's a really nice guy, too.

What is this tool?

2007-11-04T08:21:00.001-06:00

A quarter is shown for scale.

HD-DVD $99

2007-11-04T08:17:00.001-06:00

The high definition war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD wages on. Walmart offered the Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD for $99 this weekend while the cheapest Blu-ray HD-DVD players is still selling for ~$400. (Note the Toshiba HD-A2 player does not do 1080p - only 720p or 1080i.)

JupiterRsearch says neither format will win.

Grande Adds 4 HD Channels

2007-10-10T13:24:00.000-05:00

Grande Communications has added four high definition channels to their HD tier:
The History Channel, A&E, Food Network and Home&Garden.

This is good news to me (well, the History Channel and A&E anyway) and bad news to the wife. It means I'll be trying to hold serve with the remote control of our high def TV even more. But, despite these new channels and the baseball playoffs, my truelove has resources and recourse - two TiVos in other rooms.

Amazon whips the dying DRM horse

2007-09-26T20:17:00.000-05:00

The new Amazon MP3 is already offering a bunch of popular songs/artists in non-DRM MP3 format. And for $0.89 to $0.99 per song. How will this affect Apple and their premium pricing structure? And the Amazon MP3 interface seems to play nice with iTunes if you're in the Apple corp. (not that there's anything wrong with that).

I also read of a proposal to replace the current video copy protection scheme with one which relies on special DVD blanks which would allow viewers to copy a show/movie to DVD but would inhibit any copying of the DVD. That didn't work with CDs so I doubt it will be acceptable for DVDs.

NFL Games on the NFL Network - Who Woulda' Thought

2007-08-28T13:10:00.001-05:00

A kind person who stumbled upon my blog pointed out that the Saturday and Thursday games will be shown on the NFL Network on Grande cable this year. I had noted last year in this entry that, strange as it might seem, our local version of the NFL Network would not be carrying the live NFL games. Apparently that has all changed this year as Grande is advertising on their web site that 8 games will appear on the NFL Network this year. Either Grande has ponied up the extra cash or the NFL Network has dropped the extra fees to show the live games.

The Cowboys are scheduled to appear on the NFL Network on November 29th (Packers) and again on December 22nd. No, November 29th is not Thanksgiving and yes, the Cowboys will play Thursday games back-to-back on November 22nd and November 29th. The Texans are scheduled to play the Broncos on December 13th.

Note that the NFL Network is a premium service (though in the digital package) and further note that it appears neither CableOne or Suddenlink offer the NFL Network in these parts of west Texas.

Odds & Ends

2007-08-20T14:59:00.001-05:00

CableOne reportedly has in stock the new CableCARD-enabled set top boxes. I'm not sure I'd want to trade in a box that's working fine for one, though. There are still tons of reports indicating problems with CableCARDs although the one I have at home works great. I was also told CableOne now has MCards,too. The MCard version allows tuning two channels at the same type - like the dual tuner DVRs.

Is anyone using the Firewire port on their CableOne box to attach more hard drive capacity?** When HD recordings take 10 times the drive space you can never have too much hard drive, huh?

Dell is now offering their CableCARD-equipped XPS-410 but there seems to be some concern about how well these desktop media PCs will do out there in the wild. There are even rumors that Dell would prefer not to sell CableCARD-equipped PCs to consumers because they'll get lots of trouble calls about the CableCARD installation when defective CableCARDs or untrained installers have problems. I guess they'd like to sell the machines to a retailer who will do some hand-holding during installation and setup.

** Edit 08/23/07
Firewire devices must be 5C compliant.

The Cost of HD in the Studio

2007-08-09T10:42:00.000-05:00

We had a very enjoyable block party last Tuesday night, participating in National Night Out. And one of my semi-retired neighbors still does some television production work so I took the opportunity to ask why we don't see locally produced content in HD. He said the cost of the necessary studio equipment is very expensive so most smaller stations are still broadcasting in-house content in standard definition. An interesting table of television equipment costs shows 16:9 HD studio cameras costing $200,000 each and a production video switcher at $350,000.

Local stations can (and obviously do) broadcast HD content from sources outside the studio - national programming and commercials for example - but they're just passing that content along as it comes through the feeds. So, I guess we can understand why we see stretched local newscasts and commercials. Surely the on-camera news people are tired of seeing themselves somewhat hefty. I bet they would prefer to just see the SD content in its natural 4:3 format until the station is capable of providing real 16:9 HD. Me, too.

It's not TV, it's Green West Texas

2007-07-12T16:10:00.000-05:00

Use the image from this National Geographic story to prove to your distant friends and relatives that West Texas really is green right now.

More HD on TV

2007-07-12T15:42:00.000-05:00

DISH Network has announced the addition of more high definition content. The Science Channel HD, TLC HD, and History HD are among those to be added in September.

A new DirecTV satellite was successfully launched last weekend. DirecTV 10, as it was called, is expected to allow the company to add up to 100 HD channels by year-end.

Pioneer is now shipping a Blu-Ray/DVD/CD for computers (SRP $299).

And, hopefully not in HD, PBS has announced an new animated series based on the Car Talk guys coming in 2009. And people wonder why public television support is lacking. eh. I admit to listening to Click and Clack: The Tappet brothers on the radio but I have no desire to see them or any facsimile of them on my television.

New CableCard-enabled Set Top Boxes?

2007-07-03T09:24:00.000-05:00

As of Sunday, cable companies are supposed to provide, for new installations, STBs which are CableCard-enabled. This requirement will supposedly make all new STBs compatible with all cable companies - the proprietary stuff is in the the CableCard.

It's my understanding that Suddenlink, CableOne and Grande are all still waiting on the new boxes and the FCC has stated that enforcement of the new regulation will not be enforced if the operators can show that they have the new boxes on order. When any local subscribers receive one of the new boxes, I'd like to hear about it. Will you be charged extra for the CableCard? Most companies seem to charge from $2 to $5 per month for them and the cards were somewhat problematic for installers when the cards first appeared.

Locally, a couple of cable companies have expressed a concern about the theft of the STBs. The older proprietary boxes cannot be used with another cable company but people often steal them anyway. If the new boxes are generic, theft is likely to be a bigger-than-ever problem.

A waiver was granted by the FCC to Verizon and other cable operators with all-digital network.

TBS announces High Definition

2007-07-03T09:12:00.000-05:00

TBS announced that it will launch a High-Definition channel on September 1st. TBS will be carrying MLB playoff games in October so I hope our local cable companies make the channel available soon after it's offered.

Live Shuttle Launch in HD Tonight

2007-06-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder that HDNET is scheduled to have live high definition coverage of the STS-117 launch tonight. Space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch at 6:38 p.m. West Texas time. As of now, the weather forecast is favorable for launch.

DVR Viewers Watching the Commercials

2007-06-01T19:25:00.000-05:00

Surprisingly, the new Nielsen ratings which include Digital Video Recorder viewers report the "viewer total for broadcast network ads goes up 32% when DVR viewers within three days are included". The USA Today article speculates such habits might drive the price of advertising up. Before, the report most analysts seemed to predict just the opposite - fewer ads viewed and consequently lower ad rates.

I expect advertisers will still be working hard to make ads more entertaining just to discourage fast-forwarding through ads as more people acquire DVRs.

TV at 30,000 feet

2007-05-24T14:10:00.000-05:00

On flights to/from Las Vegas a couple weeks ago I enjoyed a couple of episodes of Mythbusters. After recording them (to my desktop computer using a Hauppauge card) I converted them to DivX using a nifty utility called PocketDVD Studio . The programs were viewed on my Palm TX using the free application TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player). I've read that the same Palm OS application is popular with Treo cellphone users.

Ho-Hum Television in the den can be pretty good television when you're trapped in an aluminum can at 30,000 feet. (Not that Mythbusters is Ho-Hum Television by any definition... but I don't always have such quality teevee recorded for when I go out of town.)

There are versions of PocketDVD for those iPod thingies, Zunes and other portable devices other than those of the Palm persuasion. PocketDVD rips movies direct from DVD, too. TCPMP is also available for non-Palm devices.

P.S. Next time you're in Vegas, check out The FabFour Mania at Planet Hollywood. If you missed them in 1964 this may be your only chance to see THE Beatles live!

Big2 ?? No Clue

2007-05-24T13:54:00.000-05:00

A call to KMID to ask the status of their High Definition upgrade has left me puzzled. When asked when they expect to implement their high definition broadcast, an employee (identified by the receptionist as the engineer's assistant) answered, "No idea."
The terseness of the answer made me think maybe the guy just didn't want to be bothered with the question. Politely prompting for some sort of explanation brought nothing.

Thinking maybe my question was not clear, I persisted.

Me: "So, you don't have any schedule for the upgrade?"
KMID: "Nope. No idea."
Me: Hmmm
KMID: "All I know is if something doesn't happen by 2009 we go off the air."

That makes no sense because KMID is already broadcasting in digital so the loss of their analog signal (as per the FCC rule) would have no impact except to those receiving only analog Over-The-Air. That has nothing whatsoever to do with High Def.

Me: "Who decides what you will do and when?"
KMID: "Politicians"

HUH?

Me: "The station owner has to depend upon...
KMID (interrupting) "Politicians. It's up to them."

Me: "Well thanks for your time. Goodbye."

I think I'll call back when the Engineer is available.

FCC rules on digital matters

2007-04-27T10:28:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday of this week the FCC adopted several measures concerning digital television:

Retailers must clearly label TVs with analog-only tuners, to inform users they will need a converter for over-the-air signals after February 2009.

The FCC also plans to require cable operators to continue to furnish analog signals or to furnish converters for their analog subscribers. Possibly this will apply only to local channels.

They will also consider minimum signal requirements to prevent cable operators from degrading digital signals. (Some cable subscribers are complaining of their cable companies compressing HDTV signals too much.)

Read more details at eweek.com

CBS7 A Little Late?

2007-04-03T12:54:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if they posted the story to be serious or if they were just a couple of days late in posting an April Fools story. See the story Cellphone Tricks on their web site.

EMI drops DRM from entire catalog

2007-04-02T09:53:00.000-05:00

The end is near. Read all about it.

DRM Death Watch

2007-03-20T14:06:00.000-05:00

Excuse the morbid headline but ever since Steve Jobs made headlines in February when he came out against DRM, sentiment has snowballed. Bloggers and magazine columnists are predicting the demise of DRM-encoded music in the near future. Read Dan Costa's column in the April 10 issue of PC Magazine for a good summary of the attention being given to the subject.

If DRM does go away in Musicland I have to suspect the already nervous TV and movie studios are having bad dreams. Copy protection of video content is a real source of complaints and problems for consumers - and not because they want to steal the content. People just want to watch TV and movies without the hassle associated with copy protection and proprietary hardware.

I hope the apparent pending demise of DRM for music is an omen of change in digital television.

Are you sure you're watching high def?

2007-02-28T16:38:00.000-06:00

This latest article states again that surveys show half the people with HDTVs are not watching high definition. From the article by Peter Grant for the Wall Street Journal:

Anyone who thinks consumers understand high-definition television should consider a recent survey by Leichtman Research Group.

It concluded that close to one-half of the 24 million households with HDTVs don't actually watch high-definition programs because they haven't obtained the necessary hardware from their cable, phone or satellite operators.

And about one half of those viewers - about six million - don't even realize they're not watching HDTV. Bruce Leichtman, the market research firm's president, figures the confusion is partly because the consumers spend so much money on the set they can't believe they're not getting what they paid for. "This is cognitive dissonance," he says.

HDTV, and maybe digital television in general, is not your father's television (to borrow a phrase). It is more appropriate to think of HDTV as Computer-TV. It certainly seems more computer than television in the old sense I think. And we all know there are still a lot of computer-challenged friends and relatives among us. I really hope the industry continues to educate and to make HDTV more user-friendly.

The answer is Lost

2007-02-14T15:48:00.000-06:00

Where is the hope that KMID-2 will begin High Definition broadcasts this year?

The latest I hear is mid-2008.

Your favorite ABC programs like Lost, Grey's Anatomy, and (snicker) Desperate Housewives will remain 4:3 standard definition for another season. Or two.

The NFL Football Season Ends Today

2007-02-10T15:30:00.000-06:00

The Pro Bowl (CBS7) is not in HD today but the NASCAR Bud Shootout (KPEJ24) is. I might watch a few minutes of the Pro Bowl but that particular football game has just never held my interest. And, because today is our anniversary (28 years) and I'm taking my wife to dinner, I guess I'll record the race and watch it tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime I'll continue to watch and listen to new Dallas Cowboys Coach Wade Son of Bum Phillips at dallascowboys.com.

I have to admit it's been hard to keep my attention on TV lately. I keep thinking about the local bloggers who have recently been/are taking ballroom dancing classes. Why in the world are they doing it? I know the reasons they've stated in their blogs but what is the real reason? Is this going to become the latest fad in West Texas? I cannot believe that one day in the not-too-distant future I'm going to wake up some morning and start Googling "Ballroom Dancing Lessons in Odessa Midland" because everyone else in West Texas seems to be doing it. I am a bit susceptible to suggestion but surely not with something like ballroom dancing. No, there has to be something else going on here. I can see maybe one guy making an unintended affirmative reaction to his wife's suggestion because he wasn't paying attention while she was watching Dancing With The Stars. Or maybe one guy recently attended a function and found he and his mate the only two people at the function not out on the ritzy dance floor doing the whatever-Cha-Cha-Cha and was shamed. But two guys getting swept up in this within a few months? No, that's just not likely. And, I think neither of these guys is above an elaborate practical joke. Has one of them, or maybe both in cahoots, begun some slow-developing sinister plot to sucker in their readers? I don't know about anyone else out there but I, for one, am going to be watching this latest development very carefully. There's something awfully fishy going on. Or maybe I'm just paranoid.
Again. Still.

Superbowl XLI in HD

2007-02-04T21:45:00.000-06:00

I enjoyed watching my first superbowl in high definition. The CBS 1080i picture quality was very good but still noticeably less sharp than what I've come to expect from 720p broadcasts. The weather was partially to blame as continuous rain throughout the game softened the view and boy, rain drops on HD cameras sure are obvious - especially in the long shots.

The local broadcast (KOSA via Grande for me) was well done except for the Lithia Toyota commercials which were 4:3 standard definition, s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to 16:9 so that everyone in them appeared short, fat and fuzzy.

Most, if not all, the much anticipated national commercials were in high def and looked very good. The commercial which showed the best qualities of HDTV was the one in which Coke gave us a peek at what goes on inside a coke machine when you drop in your money. By the way, was that a quarter? Where, this side of 1969, can you buy a Coke from a machine for a quarter?

And finally, in case you missed it, you can see all the superbowl ads online at CBS.SportsLine.com.

CableCard DVRs Do Exist Afterall

2007-02-04T21:37:00.000-06:00

I guess my skepticism was unjustified in my previous entry on this subject. I just found this release from Motorola which announces a new line of cable set top boxes which use CableCard and/or OCAP to meet the separable security requirement mandated by the FCC. There is no indication in the release if these DVRs will be available in adequate numbers by July.

Distorted Sound on KPEJ? Is it just me?

2007-01-30T21:55:00.000-06:00

Since they unleashed their High Def, the sound on the Standard Def broadcasts is really distorted on my Grande-fed system. (I think someone tried to point this out earlier but I can't find the comment now.)

How about you Suddenlink customers... is KPEJ-HD on yet? Do you have the sound problem with the HD shows?

And what about CableOne subscribers? I don't think I've seen a single comment here about CableOne.

[Update: 02/01/07] I believe CableOne just started carrying KPEJ-HD in the past day or two. Maybe one of their viewers will report in. Also, I hear from the KPEJ engineer that they've been working to fix the sound problem and it seems much better now. Still just a tad of clipping at the higher levels but much better.

Super Bowl in High Def

2007-01-30T21:28:00.000-06:00

CBS plans to use 47 high definition cameras in its coverage of the Super Bowl next Sunday. And there's no telling how many HDTV purchases were prompted by the Big Game but I sure wish I had a nickel for each.

Manufacturers must be pleased with Super Bowl related sales on the heels of good numbers from Christmas but prices are still falling and that's something they are not pleased about. Over-production has made profit margins thin and it's being estimated that 32" HDTVs will be routinely selling for $300 before the end of Q1 2007.

I saw a 42" Philips LCD HDTV priced at $1200-something at Sam's Club the other day but the content being displayed was pretty bad. I have yet to see a nice HD picture on a store display.

Sleepless VCRs in Midland

2007-01-27T10:17:00.000-06:00

I don't know if it's proper blogging etiquette but this entry will take the bold step of psychoanalyzing a fellow West Texas (It's a sub-state, Eric, and I prefer to recognize that with a capital W.) blogger.

Why does the thought of losing your VCRs to digital television concern you, Geo?

If it's because you are just too comfortable with the VCR technology we will try hypnosis. Find a comfortable chair in a quiet room and think of a beautiful garden spot. See the clear blue sky? Hear the gentle rustle of the leaves from the soft breeze? Feel the lush, soft grass beneath your bare feet? Now slowly begin to count backward from 100. Visualize each number as you count. You're getting sleepy. Your eyelids are so heavy. You feel so very good but you just can't keep your eyes open. You are asleep now but you are having a dream and watching all the other boys and girls enjoy the benefits of their Digital Video Recorders. Notice how they don't have to program the date and time of their favorite TV shows. The just select their show from an on-screen guide by pressing the Record button. Those shows can be recorded automatically anytime they air - new or repeats, their choice - without any more programming. But what if they want to record two shows which are scheduled for the same time? No problem. Most DVRs have two tuners and can record both shows at the same time. While they watch a third show previously recorded. Now, notice that stack of recording media in the oak cabinet next to the TV? Of course you don't - there is no media to be stacked. All the shows are listed on the DVR for you to view anytime without getting off the couch. I'm going to count to 3 now and when I do, you will wake up feeling rested and well. You will no longer feel the false sense of dependence on rusty, vinyl streams of Scotch tape.

Maybe you think you'll need a DVR for every television in the house. The next generation of DVRs will send programming wirelessly to any set in the house so you only need one DVR. Take two aspirin, wait two years and call me the next morning. Or Google "SlingBox" now.

Or, are you just disgusted with the high price of DVRs compared to the cost of those antiquated VCRs. No problem. Here's Jimmy Patterson's Viza Card# 432523432111.

The End Is Near (for the Set Top Box)

2007-01-25T19:28:00.000-06:00

As things stand at the moment, beginning July 1st this year, cable companies will no longer be allowed to hand out Set Top Boxes (STBs) without CableCard. That would seem to indicate we consumers will then be able to purchase our own box/DVR and use a cable company supplied CableCard to enable it regardless of the cable company.

Of course off-the-shelf devices like the Series 3 Tivo will not be cheap but surely the competition will result in more user-friendly DVRs. Anyone who's ever used a TiVo knows how friendly such devices can be. (There are good reviews of the Series 3 TiVo but it's expensive - about $800 - and still requires a monthly subscription.)

In any case, it will be interesting to see if the traditional, proprietary STB really dies this year. The new requirement was supposed to go in effect back in 2000, was delayed until 2005 and further postponement is now being lobbied again by the cable companies. However, Comcast was recently denied a petition for exemption so maybe the FCC is trying really hard to enact the July 1st deadline.

Please follow the links in this entry for details of CableCard and the FCC mandate.

National Geographic HD Coming to Grande Soon

2007-01-18T20:26:00.000-06:00

The program listings from Zap2It for Grande digital cable show NGCHD on Channel 430. It hasn't appeared on the channel guide yet and I cannot tune it via CableCard but I hope the high definition version of National Geographic shows up soon. The channel does not appear in CableOne or SuddenLink listings.

I've never noticed not-yet-available channels in the Zap2It listing before. As a matter of fact, it seems to generally take 2-4 weeks for new channels to show up at Zap2It after they're available.

[Update Jan 19th] It has arrived. The National Geographic HD channel is showing today on Grande.

More Opinion on High Def DVD

2007-01-05T16:46:00.000-06:00

It's still unclear to me (and to others apparently - see this Fox News story) whether or not Sony and the HD-DVD camp will bless dual format players.

And, like the author of the news article cited, I'm not sure people care what happens to High Definition DVD. Unless you are going to be viewing on a huge screen - say 60+ inches - you might be hard-pressed to see the difference. Sure, the videophiles will easily see and justify the difference but us average folks are less likely to pony up for the difference between 1080p and 480p equipment and movies.

If surveys reporting the number of people unknowingly watching SD on HD televisions is anywhere near accurate, I can't imagine those people paying for High Definition DVD. The difference between SD and HD should be easily noticeable by anyone with decent eyesight but apparently many people just don't care. I guess it's like those who held out from buying a color TV for years. I'm sure there are still some people watching black & white TV. And you know what? It doesn't matter. If they're happy with B&W, that's great. Retailers might not think it's so great but there are a few people left who buy what they think they need rather than what the advertisers tell them they need. I wonder what that's like.

LG To Announce Dual HD-DVD/Blu-Ray HD Player

2007-01-04T10:06:00.000-06:00

At the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, NV, LG Electronics is expected to announce they will begin selling a dual-format High Definition DVD player "early 2007". This is a major breakthrough.

We'll see what other significant announcements come from CES.

Cheers to KPEJ and other new stuff...

2007-01-02T20:03:00.000-06:00

FOX24-KPEJ has a beautiful picture tonight for the Orange Bowl. And in the few moments I've been able to watch tonight they're even properly showing 4:3 commercials in 4:3 so we don't have to look at a gawdawfulstretchedlo-res picture. (I know it'll happen from time to time but please, please try to stay on top of the switch.) My congratulations to engineer Doug and his crew out there.

Also I thought I'd mention that all three other stations have recently updated their web sites. My favorite source of local news, NewsWest9 has a very fine new look in the past month or so but I'd still like to see more timely local news there. I know it's a big job, and I do appreciate their work as it is. CBS7 has a an all new look (and new url). The look is very nice and clean but the site is sadly lacking for local news.

KMID-2 has a much improved look (and a new url), too, but updates to their local news is very sporadic. And until they show me the HD, they don't get much viewing on my set.

I'm very happy to see the new FOX24 in HD, but guys, the web site is truly sad. Out of respect, I won't even link. And don't you readers go Googling to find the site - it'll embarrass both you and the station.

Fox24 - KPEJ HD has begun

2006-12-29T13:48:00.000-06:00

Sometime this morning I began receiving a signal on the KPEJ-HD channel (Grande Cable). There hasn't been any HD programming yet but I'm glad to see the signal and eager to see the HD picture quality.

Edit 01/02/07
And finally the picture is in HD. The Orange Bowl pictures looked very good in a quick look. I'll have to wrestle the teevee away from the wife in a few minutes to watch awhile.

Bandwidth vs Quality

2006-12-18T09:04:00.000-06:00

I've written about the bandwidth problems caused by High Definition TV in past entries. An interesting article here goes into much detail about the ways different cable companies and the satellite companies are dealing with the problems.

The article touches a bit on some of the technicalities of HDTV broadcasts but after you work your way through that stuff you'll find some interesting things. I learned why ESPN-HD always seems to have a great picture on my TV - ESPN-HD requires distributors to carry their broadcasts at about 19.4 Mbps. Not all content providers have the muscle to keep distributors from compressing their signal.

There's also a bit of information about the guy who is suing DirecTV for compressing signals too much. I suppose that's why some people refer to their satellite programing as "HD-Lite".

Other interesting bits from the article include: the future for the InHD channels, who offers the most HD programming now, and marketing stats.

NFL Network Does Not Show NFL Games

2006-12-01T17:44:00.000-06:00

If you're a NFL football fan you probably know that Thursday night games are on the NFL Network. And if your a BIG fan, you probably already know NFL Thursday night games are not shown on the NFL Network locally.

I called Grande to see if, by chance, they might be considering a free preview weekend of the NFL Network on December 16th. After all, Grande is a Texas (only) company and it would seem a really nice gesture to allow Texans to watch the Dallas Cowboys game even if we're not currently subscribed to the NFL Network package. But, no, there are no plans by Grande for a free game. And as a matter of fact... Grande carries no NFL games on the NFL Network. Read that sentence again - I'll wait. Grande carries all the NFL Network programming except the games themselves.

According to a spokesperson at Grande, a cable company that wants to carry the actual live NFL games is expected to pay an increased rate. An increase of 600%.

Dish and DirecTV carry it but neither Suddenlink nor CableOne even offer the NFL Network. And it seems rather pointless, considering the circumstances, that Grande carries it.

NFL - 720p vs. 1080i

2006-11-21T09:09:00.000-06:00

The broadcast of last night's NFL game between the NY Giants and the Jacksonville Jaguars was as sharp as a tack. (The Jags beating the Giants was a bonus.)

Most videophiles claim 720p is better for fast-moving sports and 1080i better for pictures with less action. And, to my eye, games on ESPN-HD are always sharper than those on CBS-HD and NBC-HD so it appears my perception supports that popular notion.

But there are many factors in HDTV picture quality. Signal strength, the TV's native resolution and the signal source all have an affect. If you read the experiences of a large sample of people (like those on popular forums such as the avsforum) it's easy to see why one group of people claim Network A has the best picture and another group sees the best pictures on Network B.

My HDTV's native format is 720p and I have my Grande-supplied Motorola 6412 digital cable box set to output 720p. But I also have the cable split so I can bypass the STB and use a CableCard and I often switch between the STB and the CableCard signals to see if I can see a difference. I can't say that I see a difference between the two even though, by going through the STB box, 1080i signals are coverted by the STB to 720p before being displayed on my TV.

It's also common knowledge in the videophile circles that an Over-The Air (OTA) signal is noticeably sharper than a cable-supplied signal. The signal captured by a High Definition camera is compressed when transmitted OTA. The signal is compressed even more when transmitted over cable (and even more again over satellite) and compression results in loss of quality. How much the loss is obvious is a popular topic of debate. I have not made the effort to experiment with an OTA antenna so I can offer no opinion of the differences.

NBC (KWES9) and CBS (KOSA7) broadcast 1080i and, even though I see a little bit more blur in action programs, they both provide excellent HDTV locally. I hope to see that the FOX 720p signal is as good as that of ESPN-HD and I hope to see it locally before the end of the regular NFL season.

First Live HD Transmission from Space Tomorrow

2006-11-14T12:58:00.000-06:00

At 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday (Nov. 15th) DiscoveryHD will air a live broadcast from the International Space Station. Set your DVR.

Director of McDonald Observatory to speak in Midland Monday night

2006-11-10T10:42:00.000-06:00

David L. Lambert, Director of the McDonald Observatory will speak at the monthly meeting of the West Texas Astronomers on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. His talk will be about the past and future of the McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis.

The event will be held at the Blakemore Planetarium in Midland and there are not many seats so you better get there early. See the ad in todays Midland Reporter Telegram.

Born and educated in England, David Lambert obtained a B.A. in physics in 1960 and a D. Phil. in solar physics in 1965 from the University of Oxford. His contributions to research in astronomical spectroscopy have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards and appointments including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (1990-81) and the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics by the American Institute of Physics and the American Astronomical Society (1987).

Dr. Lambert is one of the most productive and innovative astronomers in the world. In over 35 years of research, Dr. Lambert has over 450 publications.

FOX24 - KPEJ update

2006-11-06T13:02:00.000-06:00

Thanks to a comment on my last entry concerning KPEJ, we are informed that KPEJ is expecting their HD to be available in time for the NFL playoff and BCS games - maybe "mid-December".

I really appreciate the input from readers. As a non-authority on HDTV I encourage input from everyone who has information about HDTV in West Texas.